To honor the occasion, the doors of the Rosebank museum were opened wide welcoming over 500 visitors as part of a Community Open House party that featured musical performances, several house tours loaded with Austen history and plenty of food to celebrate.

At the heart of the celebration was an online voting competition effort by the Island community that allowed the museum to receive a restoration grant from Partners in Preservation, a partnership of American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

"It was very badly needed," said Alice Austen House Executive Director Janice Monger, of the restoration work. "We did have a lot of rotten wood and few leaks on the house. We opened as a museum in 1985 and this the first real major restoration on the house in 30 years."

The museum came in seventh in the competition, that allowed Clear Comfort --- the name for Austen's historic home – to garner a $120,000 grant used to do intricate, detailed woodwork repairs as well as window repairs and get fresh new coats of paint – all in time for the museum's 30-year anniversary celebration next year.

"(The Austen Museum) is a true treasure for Staten Island and you know it because you helped us vote in 2012 in daily voting that lasted for several weeks," said Ms. Monger, thanking the crowd.

The thank-yous extended to those who helped vote and get out the vote, including PS 60 (The Alice Austen School), the Staten Island Garden Club, the Staten Island LGBT Community Center, and many photographers and those in the photographic community.

She also thanked contributors to the restoration as well as the day's event, including lots of volunteers and small businesses.

"You all rallied to vote to make sure we could preserve this New York City and national landmark for the next generation," she said.

"What we tried to do was put it back to the time period where Alice was living here as a young person," said Barnhart. "There were a lot of elements that were rotten: the crest on the ridge was all gone and we redid that and we had to remake all the birdhouses and the windows had a lot of damage."

"Each aspect of restoring the windows and doors was so involved and intricate you can't imagine and it just looks incredible," noted Ms. Monger.

The Alice Austen House was among 40 citywide sites in a 2012 race for $3 million in preservation funding.

The Alice Austen House wasn't the only Island winner, also selected were: The Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society and the Rossville AME Zion Church.

Paint for the project was donated by Benjamin Moore.

Locals had nothing but good things to say about the house's new look.

"I used to volunteer at the Alice Austen Museum, so this is fantastic," said Allison Angioletti of Rosebank, noting she was happy the museum was able to get money for a restoration.

"I was very impressed with what they were able to accomplish here," said local veteran photographer Bill Higgins.

"It's looks fantastic," said Caroline Salerno Labita of Graniteville.

The Staten Island Garden Club – founded by Austen – also put up a display for the event.

Also out celebrating were Democratic Congressional Candidate Domenic Recchia and state Sen. Diane Savino.